[DarkBuddha]

Neat to see everyone elses stuff, so I thought I'd share mine...

I'm one of the ST fans that was invited down to Key West for the commercial shoot, and I was then asked to write a short article for Ford Social about my experience. I mentioned my '70 Mach 1 in that article, purchased when I was 15 in 1988, and I still have it today. It had a hard life before me, and I wasn't very nice to it either, and after letting it sit during college and grad school, it's still finding it's way back to life, but here are some pics:

Before starting the resto:

Still not done, but getting there:

My other "Ford" is my modified '89 Merkur XR4TI Cosworth-wannabe, which I now call more appropriately my "XR4RS". I autocross and rallycross this car as well as street drive it (including ferrying the kiddos to school and running errands):

And a pic of two together:

I think my Oxford White ST will fit right in.

 

[BetaMO]

Damn, that's a nice looking Mach 1! I had a buddy with one back in High School in the late '70s, early '80s and it was always great fun cruising and listening to Molly Hatchet on the 8-track!!

That car would sell for big bux here in Missouri since it's the University of MO colors!

I found the Merkur an interesting vehicle (yours is the BEST looking one I've ever seen, btw), but I was into RX-7s at the time (first gen only! - interestingly, my first RX-7 was a 1983 GSL Gold/Tan Leather custom order, unfortunately I wrecked it).

Your ST is gonna feel right at home for sure!

 

[DarkBuddha]

Thanks for the compliments. The XR is an oddity for sure, even in its day. The irony is that it is the spiritual and historical ancestor of the Focus ST... same size, same market segment, same sort of performance/packaging goals. In fact, it was lessons learned with the Merkur that made Ford shy of continuing to pursue brining Euro models to the US for a while. 10 year later they brought the Aspire, Contour/Mystique, and Focus eventually. Imagine how far ahead we'd be if Ford had been a bit wiser with the Merkur cars... we would've sure seen the RS and ST well before now.

 

[PoonRacing]

Nice looking XR4 there!

 

[DarkBuddha]

Nice looking XR4 there!

Let's see some pics of yours!

 

[RobtRoma]

Nice little collection of Fords!

 

[DarkBuddha]

Thanks... now that I think about it, we do have a bit of a "collection" in the family now. My parents own a '09 Taurus, '91 F150, and just sold their '67 Ranchero. Then my brother has a '03 P71 Crown Vic. And in the family barn is an '74 F100 and a '67 OSI 20MTS (both of which I'm vying to inherit eventually).

 

[Lauwersp]

Nice Merkur. I have an 89 radiant red one that needs some attention but i love it anyway. I SO miss having a garage. I believe it's Fords total screw up of the Merkur brand that has them acting so conservatively in regards to the ST... Shaving options for example... Stupid heads...

The problem with the merkur brand was fords idiotic marketing plan. Let's hope that doesn't happen here. Of course, all this fantastic press is a great, great start.

 

[ian351c]

I love what you've done with the Mach 1. I hope one day that mine (a '73) will look that good.

 

[DarkBuddha]

Thanks. I do have a rather demented dream for it, but it's pretty drastic:

 

[Weasel 555]

nice XR mate , what wheels are on it ? compomotives ?

 

[DarkBuddha]

I want a set of Comp MO5s, but I've yet to find a set that I can afford. The ones on there are Team Dynamics ProRace 2s. I actually hve several sets of wheels for the XR, including 3 sets of Enkei 92 meshes, and a set of American Racing 5 spoke wheels that I painted gold (kinda the "poorman's Compomotives"). Here's a pic on the ARE wheels:

 

[Weasel 555]

Wyatt, the white with gold looks great , altho been a ex- 17yr subaru impreza owner i'm biased towards "gold" wheels tehehe

 

[DarkBuddha]

You'll get no argument from me... it's a classic look and one of the reasons I'd really like to be able (to afford) to get a set of Comp MOs (in gold of course). In fact, it's why I ordered my ST in white too. I'm planning this for the ST: